Ferrari behind Red Bull and Mercedes says Binotto

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto admits to being off the early pace of Mercedes and Red Bull in Formula 1 pre-season testing.

Showing poorly when compared to their typical championship rivals, Binotto has confessed to having concerns about the early stages of the season.

“Not as optimistic as last year which means the others are faster than us, we need to look at the data in the next few days," said Binotto. "But I don’t believe that we are faster than them. This is a concern because you want to be as fast as them but its too early to stage to find and understand them.

“Our competitors are very strong but let’s not forget last year, let’s wait till next week and Australia to understand the true picture.”

Ferrari dominated testing in 2019 which led to theories that Ferrari would run away with the championship, so Binotto is being cautious not to read too much into the results of testing despite the difficult results.

“At first we changed the approach to the testing and the programme, we focused the first session in trying to map the car by different configurations in trying to optimize performance,” added Binotto.

"These three days have been important because we have collected the data and information to have a better understanding and what is now important is to make sure that we are developing the car in the right direction.

"However it is a long season with 22 races potentially so there will be time to recover, lets wait for next week and Australia to find out.”

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